Close Encounters
by everlovingdeer
Summary: Elbowing their brother in the ribs, they took the chance to run off down the carriage. Before Weasley could shoot off after his brothers like he so clearly wanted to, I called out to him. "Weasley – there's … there's no way they actually managed to cast a bonding jinx, is there?"
1. Close Encounters

I was already regretting my decision to accept the position of Head Girl. The amount of work involved was _not_ worth the position. Planning patrol routes, planning patrol schedules, alleviating conflicts between the houses and conflicts between the prefects themselves – there was just too much for me to do. Especially with bloody N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year. But surely, it was too early for me to have come to that decision already? Besides, I wasn't the sort of person who gave things up so quickly.

Last night I had received a last-minute letter from my head of house where he reminded me of the first meeting that was always held on the train. Salazar, just thinking of him was scary enough to ensure that the prefects meeting was etched into my mind. And it was the thought of facing the consequences from Snape that had me turning up early to the prefect's carriage.

Of course, the carriage was empty as I sat waiting for my partner for the year to join me. There weren't many possible candidates for the position and one obvious person sprung to mind. I could only hope that Dumbledore had some sort of sense and the brilliant wizard definitely knew of the relationship I shared with Weasley; one built on mutual annoyance that sprung up simply at the sight of the other. Who cared if he had the highest scores out of all the boys in my year? If Weasley walked into the room with the dammed Head Boy badge pinned to his robes then I couldn't guarantee that he would make it through the year in one piece. And besides, if he was just a Prefect, I couldn't exactly pass up the chance to rub it in that I was now ranked higher than him, now could I?

Looking at the patrol schedules that I was supposed to plan out, I was _so_ tempted to adjust it so I didn't end up with many late-night patrols. But unfortunately, according to Snape, the Head Boy and Head Girl tended to have the later shifts in order to 'check' things over. Glancing impatiently at my watch, I heard the door to the carriage opening. Rising to my feet to greet the Head Boy, I visibly faltered in my steps when I realised who it was. Of course, I'd have the most horrendous luck to be stuck with the most _infuriating_ person as my partner. Merlin my head was already beginning to ache as I imagined just how many fights we were going to get into this year. Weasley didn't react any better; he actually paused in his steps as if not wanting to get any closer to me.

Sitting down again with a frown, I turned away from him and picked up the patrol schedules again. "Hurry up Weasley, we don't have all day for you to be standing there like an idiot."

I didn't need to look up at him to know that he was outright frowning at me. He sighed, crossing the carriage and sliding into the seat across from me. He peered down at the paper I was looking at and when he recognised it as the schedule, he started to help me allocate the slots. The surprise I felt at actually receiving his help was displayed so very obviously on my face, that he just rolled his eyes and knocked on the table to remind me to concentrate. The schedule was fixed within 10 minutes with us bouncing our ideas over one another and I was forced to rethink my previous words. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad – as long as we continued to work together like this, that was.

"Would you look at that," I murmured as I waved my wand to make multiple copies of the schedule and gathered them into one pile, "it looks like we actually make a good team."

"We'll see," he muttered glancing away from me as he gathered the quills and inkwell that we'd scattered across the table. "It'll depend on how you behave Schlank."

I knew it was too good to be true.

"More like how _you_ behave," I threw back before rising to my feet. "We need to change into our uniforms – we won't have the chance to change later."

"Would you look at that," he mumbled under his breath as he followed me out of the room, "you're capable of being right for once."

Shooting a glare over my shoulder at him, I stepped out of the carriage only to stop in my step. Weasley continued to walk, not realising that I'd stopped, and ran into me from behind. He grumbled under his breath, only trailing off when he realised just why I was standing still.

"Why are there so many bloody Weasleys around me?" I grumbled for him to hear as I looked at his twin brothers.

"What do you two want?" he called out to the pair of them.

The pair shared a mischievous glance and I backed up slightly at the look and tried not to show any other outward reaction. The pair of them slowly reached into their pockets to draw out their wands and before I could even think to cast a shielding charm in defence, it was already too late. The twins, each with a wand pointed at one of us, recited an unfamiliar jinx at once and I stared at my shoulder where the jinx had hit me. Looking back to Weasley, my eyes widened slightly when I realised that he didn't know what it was either. The twins, clearly wanting to run away, would have succeeded had Weasley not shot our from behind me to fist a handful of their jumpers tightly in his hands.

"What did you just do?" he demanded firmly and when they refused to answer, he threatened, "It wouldn't take too long for mum to pen a howler for the pair of you. It'll get to Hogwarts in time for welcoming feast."

Even I flinched at the mention of one of Mrs Weasley's infamous howlers and the twins sighed before pulling away from their brother. One of the twins, whichever was the _slightly_ taller one, reluctantly admitted, "It's a bonding jinx – you won't be able to keep away from each other without losing control of your bodies."

Elbowing their brother in the ribs, they took the chance to run off down the carriage. Before Weasley could shoot off after his brothers like he so clearly wanted to, I called out to him. "Weasley – there's … there's no way they actually managed to cast a bonding jinx, is there?"

"I wouldn't put it past them," he admitted with a sigh, "They're much more capable of performing magic than people give them credit for."

"But why?" With an annoyed sigh, I asked, " _Why_ would they do something like that?"

"How would I know?" I frowned at his curt response, and openly glared at his back as he continued down the train to change into his uniform.

There was just no way they'd bene able to successfully cast a bonding jinx. No way. Not as fifth years. They were probably lying, wanting to trick their older brother; that was what younger brothers did.

* * *

Except it was the truth, they'd managed to pull off casting a bonding jinx at such a young age. Merlin, if I hadn't been one of the people involved in the bloody jinx, then I would have been impressed that they were capable of performing such skilled magic already. But I wasn't impressed, I was going to kill them when I got my hands on them.

They must have researched the most annoying bonding jinx that they could find, just to be extra spiteful. Under the jinx, even just spending a few hours apart, would lead to the both of us having to search the other out. We'd end up losing complete control over our body as if we'd drank a little too much, and Merlin, just stumbling around like that was embarrassing enough but it got worse. Only direct contact would make our bodies return to normal and both of us hated that more than anything. Just brushing my shoulder against his worked well but the effect was short lasting. Skin to skin contact worked the best but that was just _gross_.

As I sat at the Slytherin table for breakfast, I cast a disdainful glance towards the Gryffindor table. Lessons hadn't even begun yet and already my seventh year was ruined; I needed to figure out how to put an end to this stupid jinx. With a sigh, I rose to my feet and after assuring my friends that I was fine, I headed out to my first lesson of the day. I'd get through this while initiating as little contact with Weasley as I had to. But for now, I would imagine all the possible ways that I could get back at his younger brothers.

Slowly my classmates walked into the classroom in preparation for our first lesson of the year and I did the same. Naturally, I wanted to drift towards the back of the classroom to the seats that my friends and I had occupied last year. But a hand suddenly reached out for my own and just from the way pure warmth filled me at the contact, I knew exactly who it was. I frowned instantly, turning to look at Weasley with blatant displeasure. He rolled his eyes, pulling me down into the seat beside him.

"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded as he dropped my hand.

"I'm not having this rubbish affect my grades," he stated firmly. "I've worked too hard for it all to be suddenly wrecked like this. So just sit in silence."

"You're saying that as if we're going to sit together in every lesson we share," I muttered under my breath even as I began to pull my things out of my bag to prepare for the lesson.

"That makes sense, doesn't it?"

My mouth parted in surprise as I scoffed, "If anything you should want this jinx to take effect. That's the only way you'd be able to beat me. You should know that better than anyone."

He turned in his seat then, narrowing his eyes at me from behind those hideous glasses, "Remind me again just who, out of the two of us, got a perfect score in their O.W.L. level Charms exams?"

Salazar, if it hadn't been for that one question I'd messed up –

"You sound as if you've forgotten who got a perfect score for their Potions O.W.L and who didn't, Weasley."

Pursing his lips in irritation, he blew out a frustrated breath when I raised an eyebrow, silently daring him to say something else. But he didn't. He simply turned in his seat to face the front of the classroom and I crossed my arms. This was going to be a _long_ lesson. Of course, this would all be over as soon as I managed to corner the Weasley twins to find the cure for this bullshit.

They clearly had a survival instinct; they'd taken to running in the opposite direction the moment they saw me walking towards them. I was _so_ close to hitting them with a full body-bind, and the only thing stopping me was the badge pinned to my robes. This Head Girl position just wasn't worth it.

It was just my luck that my friends happened to walk into the classroom at that exact moment. Their eyes drifted to the back of the room where they expected to find me, but when they didn't, they searched the room until they found me seated by Weasley. Sharing a look, they began to snicker as they hurried past me. I tried to get their attention to tell them that it wasn't what they thought but it was no use. Turning to face Weasley with irritation, I glared openly at him. But he didn't even glance my way; he was too busy preparing for the beginning of the lesson.

* * *

The fact that we had managed to maintain outer appearances was nothing short of a miracle. No one apart from myself, Weasley and his two troublemaking brothers knew about the bonding jinx and we were trying to keep it that way. But it wasn't always easy to do. The first few days had consisted of us stubbornly avoiding each other for as long as possible but then the jinx would kick into effect and we'd have to resort to running off in search of the other. So understandably it was a surprise that no one seemed to notice the Head Boy and Head Girl stumbling around as if they were drunk. It had been pure luck.

But the luck was bound to run out eventually and it just _had_ to happen during a prefect's meeting. Weasley and I hadn't shared the last few lessons together so there was no way to reach out to him. And from experience, we usually had around 3 hours until the spell took effect and that was normally enough time. I'd just needed to get to the meeting room early and then stick myself to Weasley's side before any of the other Prefects arrived. And it would have worked without a hitch if I hadn't stumbled upon a group of duelling fifth years who I had to deal with. By that time, it was too late.

As I walked into the meeting room, I looked around in mild irritation at the rest of the Prefects who were waiting for the meeting to being. Salazar, they very rarely turned up to meetings on time so why were they here so soon?

"Nice of you to join us," Weasley piped up from the front of the classroom and we shared a look, silently wondering just what we were supposed to do now.

"I had to break up a duel," I said to justify my lateness, even as I tried to think of something to do. "I think we need to talk over some things, so why don't we start in a few minutes?"

But Weasley, ever the professional, turned to address the classroom full of Prefects and I did my best to stop myself from crossing the room to thump him round the back of his head. "This shouldn't be a long meeting anyway, we can _talk_ later."

With a resigned sigh, I joined him at the front of the classroom and leaned against the teacher's desk at the front of the room. Merlin, this was going to be such a disaster. And I was right.

Not even ten minutes into the meeting, Weasley's words slowly began to slur and I glanced sharply towards him – it was already beginning. My eyes struggled to focus on him and I blinked roughly, trying to push the effect of the jinx away. It was pointless because I'd learned that resisting sped up the progression and, as I watched Weasley start to sway on his feet, I knew I needed to act quickly. The Prefects glanced towards him in concern before looking to me as if to ask what they were supposed to do.

Clearing my throat, I tried to speak without worrying them further but even I had begun to slur my words. "Let's take a quick break."

Weasley went to protest but I straightened up and crossed the space between us with unsteady steps. When I reached his side, I slumped heavily against him and let out a relieved breath when my head cleared. The tension eased out of Weasley's shoulders and he glanced towards me, slinging an arm around my waist to stabilise himself. Neither of us commented on the way the action drew curious whispers.

"This is what happens when you're stubborn," I hissed but made no move to walk away from him.

"It's fine," he insisted, even as he closed his eyes for a moment to gather himself.

Once the effects had died down, we both drew away from each other and Weasley turned to address the room full of Prefects. I moved to return to my place perched on the teacher's desk when I realised that we'd had no skin on skin contact. It wouldn't be enough. Just touching him like that wouldn't be enough and it was likely to stave the effects of the jinx for another ten minutes maximum. Reaching out to link my little finger with Weasley's, found it easier to breathe as if a weight was lifted off from my chest.

"Just in case," I murmured to the curious Gryffindor before counting silently to ten. Only then did I release his finger and return to my place.

Perched on the desk, I watched as Weasley took another short moment to gather himself before clearing his throat roughly to bring an end to the murmurs that were still travelling through the room. They died down a little but continued in the background.

Rolling my eyes, I asked loudly, "Do you want to spend the rest of the evening in here?" The whispers died down completely. "I thought not."

Weasley threw a grateful smile my way but I was too lost in my thoughts to comment on the odd action. Salazar, I could only imagine the type of strange rumours that would be circulating the castle once the Prefects got back to their common rooms. My God, when I got my hands on the Weasley twins, it would be so bad that they'd _wish_ for one of their mother's howlers instead.

* * *

Late night patrols were draining; not just because I kept getting into fights with the more rowdy suits of armour, but because they were the last thing I wanted to do after a full day of schoolwork. But there was no other choice; it was part of my duty as the Head Girl. Stumbling into the shared Heads Dorm after one of my late-night patrols, getting into bed was my primary focus. But the moment I crossed the threshold, my eyes settled onto Weasley as he sat on one of the sofas in the middle of the room, clearly waiting for me. I eyed the stairs that led to the bedrooms before sighing and turning back to him in time to see Weasley pat the space beside him.

Crossing the space between us with quick steps, I settled down next to him, letting myself press against him to keep the bloody jinx at bay for a little longer. Some of the burgeoning tension that had sprouted in between my shoulders eased and I let out a deep, relieved breath. Weasley discretely did the same before shuffling away from me once he was back to his normal level of functioning.

"We have some things we need to talk about," he explained, frowning slightly when I rubbed a tired hand over my eyes. "I'll try and be quick so you can get to bed."

"I'd appreciate it," I said truthfully.

"I take it Snape took you aside to tell you about the sighting of Sirius Black around Hogsmeade?" At my answering nod, he glanced solemnly towards me. "They think he might get into the castle somehow and whilst they're trying to stop that, just in case, the teachers want us to prepare for it. The students might all have to stay in the great hall for the night if that happens."

"We'll have to work out some sort of patrol as well to secure the castle," I murmured, biting my bottom lip contemplatively. "It might be better to restrict it to the older Prefects and the teachers, just in case. We can speak to Dumbledore about that tomorrow. There's something else you want to talk about as well, isn't there?"

"I think we've both figured out the 3 hour limit to the jinx," he started cautiously. "After those three hours pass, we can barely control our bodies. But the three hours passed in the middle of the night and we end up feeling like utter shit in the morning."

Making a sound of agreement, I sighed, "It only ends when one of us can manage to get out of the bed to stumble into the other person's room."

"We need to do something about that."

"You're speaking as if you already have an idea in mind." He glanced hesitantly towards me and I elbowed him gently, "Well, go on then. What is it?"

He hesitated a moment longer before speaking cautiously, not even looking my way. "The beds in the dorm are double beds –"

"No way," I cut in with an adamant shake of my head. "No way in hell."

"Well do _you_ have a better idea?" he shot back with an irritated glance in my direction. "Because no matter how you look at it, we need physical contact for the stupid jinx to settle for a while. It's not like we can continue to set alarms for every three hours now, is it? We both know you wouldn't get up anyway."

"You have a point," I muttered with a frown as I reluctantly agreed. "Let's try it – but there's no way that you're setting foot in my room. Don't even dream about it."

"Mine then," he agreed before rising to his feet. "I'm off to bed then."

Nodding awkwardly, I watched as he walked up the stairs to his room and only when I knew he couldn't hear me, did I let myself have a temper fit. Grabbing one of the cushions from the sofa, I smothered my scream in it. Was I insane? There were things to agree to in life but sharing a bed with your partner was _not_ one of them.

Reluctantly rising to my feet, I walked into my room and changed into my pyjamas before sitting on my bed for a long moment. This was going to be so bloody awkward. What was I supposed to now? I'd agreed to this stupid idea, and now it was too late. Besides, what if this really did help with the jinx? If it reduced the effect of the jinx even slightly, then it was worth the awkwardness. That I was certain of.

Forcing myself to walk the short distance to his room, I waited outside his door for a moment to steel myself. Pushing the door open, my eyes instantly settled on the bed where Weasley was sleeping with his back to me. Crossing the room with soft steps, I stood beside the bed for a minute, just trying to work up my nerve to actually slip inside. Sitting on the edge, I saw his back stiffen suddenly and realised that he wasn't asleep. Clearing my throat, I moved quickly and settled into the bed beside him. Staring up at the ceiling, I took deep breaths to try and calm my rapidly beating heart. Salazar, it was just Weasley, there was no reason to get worked up over this.

"You know," I began quietly, "it's strange but I actually think this jinx was what we needed to actually work together. Otherwise, we'd go around ignoring each other for as long as we could."

"You've got a point," he said just as quietly, his back still towards me, "when we work together we make a good team."

"It's only when you're being a pain that we don't work well together."

He scoffed loudly at that. Rolling onto his back, he joined me as I stared up at the ceiling. "You're the pain Schlank, not me."

"Are you being serious?" I demanded, rolling onto my side to look at him.

"You're the one that pushed me out of that bloody boat in first year," he pointed out incredulously, pushing himself up onto his elbows so he could stare down at me.

"That's only because _you_ called me a Neanderthal," I shot back, pointing a finger at his chest and he winced a little. "I needed to prove you right anyway, seeing as you claimed that you were never wrong."

He sighed, laying back down beside me on his side so we were face to face. "I was wrong to call out that."

"Hell must have frozen over," I muttered.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," I muttered, shaking my head and closing my eyes as if I was going to sleep.

"Goodnight," he murmured quietly after a short while and I peeked my eyes open to see him lying as he faced me. I waited for his breathing to slow and even out until I let my own eyes drift close.

"Goodnight, Weasley."

* * *

Despite having put plans in place for the chance that Sirius Black turned up at the castle, I genuinely hadn't expected for the escaped madman to make it inside. After all, wasn't Hogwarts supposed to be impenetrable? Or was that just one of the lies we were told when we started the school?

Nevertheless, the madman _had_ made it into the castle and had torn up the entirety of the Gryffindor common room. No one knew the reason why, but most thought it had something to do with a certain scar bearing third year. I had only been informed of the break-in when, after I returned to the dorm following my final lesson, Weasley had been waiting for me.

He told me that we were expected down at the hall to help set things up in preparation for the night and that it was probably better to change into our pyjamas now because who knew when we would get the chance to do so again. Once we were both changed, we walked hand in hand to the great hall – simply because we had no idea how long everything would take or when we'd get the chance to delay the jinx for longer.

Once we reached the hall we were left with a handful of teachers to help us remove the tables and benches and to put out enough sleeping bags in their place. The rest of the teachers were supervising the students in their common rooms and would later walk them down.

Keeping the students safe was the top priority and so the patrol schedule we'd arranged, simply as a precaution, was put into place. The teachers, as well as the fifth and sixth year Prefects, were told their roles. As the students began to file into the hall one by one, I stood beside the door and ticked their names off the list to make sure that no one was missing. The last thing we needed was for one of the first years to be running around when there was a serial killer on the loose.

Professor McGonagall brought up the rear, shutting the doors behind her and I frowned, staring around the hall before summoning the Prefects that had been helping me.

"Is everyone from your house here?" I asked as I took the parchments with all the student's names from them. Both the seventh year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Prefects nodded before leaving when they were called for by their head of house. Frowning again, I looked down at the list in my hand and sighed. Really, I had my money on it being one of the Gryffindors to run off, not a member of my own house.

"What's the matter?" Weasley asked as he stopped beside me, handing me the list of names from Gryffindor house.

"Is everyone here? Even Potter and his friends?"

"All of Gryffindor house is here," he assured me. "Is someone missing from Slytherin?"

I nodded, startling slightly when he reached out for the parchment, putting his hand on top of mine. At my glance, he explained quietly, "Who knows when we'll next get the chance. Now, who's missing?"

"One of the third years."

"Crabbe? He needed to go to the toilet so I asked the other seventh year Slytherin Prefect to take him."

"Are you sure?"

Weasley rolled his eyes before gesturing towards the doors which pushed open to reveal Crabbe as he walked into the great hall.

Greatly relieved, a breath slipped past my lips and I finally ticked his name off. "Thank goodness; that's everyone."

My eyes settled onto Crabbe who searched the room for his friends before hurrying off to join them. The younger students seemed to have forgotten just why they were camping out in the great hall and most of them were instead treating it as if they were camping. But I suppose that was better than them crying over the potential danger they faced. The fun and games only lasted for a short while longer before the students were made to climb into their sleeping bags and settle down for the night. The older students complained about the enforced early bedtime but one strict glance from Snape iced over the entire great hall. I stood with my arms folded against my chest, back pressed against the wall as I watched over the students.

Weasley crossed the room and nudged me with his elbow. "Come on; it's our turn to patrol."

After hearing several warnings reminding us to be safe, we headed out to patrol the castle. Maybe it was because we were patrolling at a later time than normal, or maybe it was because I knew that there was a chance that Sirius bloody Black was still lurking around somewhere, but the castle at night seemed much creepier and downright frightening. Linking my arm through Weasley's, I stuck myself to his side and even hid behind him a little as we scanned the corridor. He cast an amused glance down at me.

"It's only because of the jinx," I insisted, pushing closer to him when one of the painting suddenly began to talk to itself. "It's absolutely not because I'm scared."

"Of course not," he agreed with a quiet laugh, reaching out as if to remove my arm from the crook of his elbow. Before I could protest, he linked our fingers together and began to walk slightly ahead of me. Throwing a glance back at me, he said quietly, "If you _do_ feel scared though, feel free to hide behind me."

I just looked at him in surprise. He might have been _Percy_ Weasley, but he was definitely a Gryffindor through and through. Noticing my silence, he went to turn as if to look back at me completely.

Thumping him on the back, I muttered, "I told you I'm not scared."

"Ok, ok," he said although he was clearly trying not to laugh. "Let's just get going so we can get this done and head back to the hall. Alright?"

"Alright. Just – you go first."

I expected him to tease me further but he set off without a word. We continued to walk through the castle with our wand held alight in one hand, and our hands clasped tightly in the other. Drawing further into the castle, I tried not to be too obvious about my discomfort but it was pointless; he already knew that I was scared anyway. Thankfully there was no madman hiding in the shadows and we headed back to the great hall. The closer we came to the designated safe room, the less I worried about anything.

But on our way back to the hall, we reached the doors just in time to see them open as two very familiar Weasleys tried to sneak out of the room. Before I realised it, I cast a full body-bind on the pair of them, freezing them to their spot. Pulling away from the older Weasley, I hurried towards his younger brothers and stood in front of them with narrowed eyes.

"The two of you are _dead_!" I hissed, releasing the spell and immediately grabbing a fistful of both of their pyjama tops before they could escape.

Shaking them roughly, I threw a glance at Weasley when his younger brothers called out to him to ask him to step in. He didn't exactly rush to their rescue and instead sauntered leisurely towards me as I held them captive. Even when he stopped beside me, he didn't ask me to release either of them.

Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest to ask, "What does it take to release the jinx?"

The twins shared a glance before bursting into laughter. The one of my left, the slightly shorter one spoke first as he took pleasure in informing me, "Only you two can break the jinx."

" _Fred_ ," Weasley called out warningly. "Don't think for a second that I believe you."

"That's _your_ problem then," 'Fred' snarked.

Weasley glanced at me before nodding his head. With a smile, I shook them both again, much more roughly than I had the first time. When I stopped, Weasley looked at the other twin – the _slightly_ taller one – and raised an eyebrow.

"George, what do we need to do to release the spell?"

The second twin who seemed just a fraction more level-headed than his twin brother smiled slightly before admitting, "Kiss."

"Is this some joke to you?" I exclaimed shaking them again. "Forget that for now – just where do you think you were going? There's a _murderer_ on the loose and you were just going to walk around the castle as if it was a normal night? Actually, I don't want to know, get back into the hall." Dropping my hands from their clothes, I watched as they righted their pyjamas and raised an eyebrow. Pointing at the closed hall doors, I demanded, " _Now!"_

Both twins shared a rather perturbed look before turning to march back into the hall. We followed shortly after them and whilst Weasley stayed behind to make sure that his brothers were returning to their places, I headed over to McGonagall when she summoned me.

"Were there any problems?" she asked with a deep frown.

"Nothing," I assured her, watching as the frown slowly evened out.

"I'm glad." With a sigh, she pointed towards a pair empty sleeping bags. "You and Mr Weasley should get some sleep; the rest of the teachers and I will handle the rest of the patrols."

"Yes, professor," I murmured before heading over towards one of the sleeping bags that she'd motioned to.

As I slid inside, I wondered just how I'd get through the night. Following on from the first night, Weasley and I had taken to sharing the same bed because it kept the effects of the jinx at bay. But we couldn't exactly do that now. Weasley, after sharing a similar conversation with McGonagall, approached the sleeping bag beside my own. I watched silently as he pushed the sleeping bag as close to mine as he could before he settled down for the night, taking his glasses off and putting them down beside his sleeping bag. Silently, he held out his hand for mine and I gave it to him without protest. Eyes slipping shut, Weasley moved our joined hands so they were hidden under his pillow and I let the warmth of his touch lull me to sleep.

The next morning, the early rays of the sun streamed in through the windows and fell directly on my face. Scrunching my eyes tighter, I eventually sighed and forced my eyes open. From the lack of the sound in the hall, it seemed that most of the students were still asleep. My hand, still tucked under his pillow had fallen numb at some point in the night and started to hurt. I tried to gently pull my hand away but he fussed in his sleep anyway, eventually opening his eyes.

Watching him carefully, I brought my hand into my sleeping bag and repeatedly clenched it and unclenched it to restart the blood flow. Gradually the pain eased but that was the least of my concerns. Instead, I was too focused on the way Weasley was staring at me. He rose slowly onto his elbow, watching silently before he leaned in slowly. I felt like I stopped breathing as he continued to approach me to kiss me. It was nothing really; just a simple press of his lips against mine but it sent my heart into overdrive.

Weasley drew away as if nothing had happened and I found myself staring at him. He held my eyes, refusing to looking away.

* * *

I spent the day avoiding Weasley as well as I could and when I couldn't help but be around him, I certainly didn't touch him. The three hours passed _long_ ago and yet, there was no pain, no hint of even the slightest of the symptoms from the jinx. It was really over. No matter how much we didn't want to believe his brothers, they hadn't been lying.

I continued to avoid Weasley throughout the day and for the first time in weeks I prepared to sleep in my own bed. But it was uncomfortable as if it suddenly didn't fit me anymore. Which was all sorts of rubbish because it was a bed – it was made for everyone. And yet I continued to toss and turn, unable to fall asleep. In the back of my mind, I knew _why_ I was finding it so difficult to fall asleep but I was reluctant to actually admit it to myself. Because it was impossible. There was no way that I could have changed so much within a few weeks' time – certainly not to the extent where I was now unable to sleep without his quietly snoring body sleeping beside my own. Salazar, this was frustrating.

Sitting up in the bed with a sigh, I cast a Lumos with my wand before leaving it on the nightstand next to my book. Snagging the book quickly, I turned to my bookmarked page and settled down to read until my eyes grew tired. A knock on the door disturbed me and I cast an irritated glance at the door as if it would travel through the wood and land on the man standing on the other side. Rising to my feet, I headed to the door and opened it slowly.

My eyes lingered on Percy for a moment and I realised it was the first time in the day that I'd _really_ looked at him. Shuffling on my feet, I asked, "Did you need something or –?"

"Can I come in?" he asked hesitantly and I obligingly stepped out of the way for him.

Percy walked into the room slowly, looking around curiously and I realised that whilst I was familiar with his room, the same wasn't true for him. Closing the door behind him, I watched as he came to a still beside the bed and hovered a little awkwardly. Pushing away from the door, I headed to the bed and patted the space beside me silently. He sat with little reluctance and we both stared ahead at the wall, for some reason we were unable to meet each other's eyes.

"Did you feel any of the side effects today?" he asked suddenly and I finally glanced towards him to shake my head. He nodded to himself as he murmured, "Me neither."

"Looks like it's definitely over," I said slowly, wondering which one of us was feeling more awkward. He turned to face me as if he was going to say something but stopped suddenly. "It turns out that your brothers are capable of more than many people give them credit for."

"They are," he agreed before falling silent again. I didn't need to be able to read his mind to know that he clearly had no idea what he wanted to say.

With a sigh, I rose to my feet and walked around the bed to the other side. Even as I felt his curious eyes on me, I didn't meet them. Instead, I slid under the covers and lied down after extinguishing the Lumos.

"Stay or go, Weasley," I said quietly, keeping my back to him. "The decision's yours to make."

I waited with bated breath to see what he would do. The mattress shifted as he rose to his feet and I closed my eyes; of course, it was natural for him to leave. It wasn't as if he needed to stick around anymore anyway – there was no chance that we'd wake up in agonising pain in the morning. But the mattress dipped moments later as he clambered wordlessly into the bed beside me. He cleared his throat quietly before settling down to sleep and with the warmth of his body radiating towards me, I was soon lulled to sleep.

* * *

The next few days passed in a similar way; with neither of us seeking the other out during the day and spending the night sharing the same bed. And when morning came, we were back to not ignoring each other. Or maybe that wasn't the right way to phrase it – we didn't go out of our way to avoid the other, but we certainly didn't make any efforts to look for them either.

On my way back to the Head's dorm, I turned into one of the lesser used corridors to take the shortcut when I found myself standing face to face with two irritating identical grins. Narrowing my eyes at them, I withdrew my wand pocket and pointed it at them. They weren't phased and Salazar, that was more than a little insulting.

"What are you going to do with that Schlank," the taller one – George if I remembered correctly – asked with a slight laugh.

"It's a precaution," I warned. "If the two of you even _try_ to cast another jinx on me then I'm going to hex you until you both have problems recognising each other."

"Well you can save yourself the trouble," Fred, was it Fred, assured me. "We're not going to cast another jinx on you. But surely you understand why we cast the bloody thing in the first place?"

I looked between the two twins with a blank stare, not knowing the answer to their question. Even if I _was_ extremely curious about why they'd done what they did.

"Wait, you really don't know?" George asked incredulously. "Aren't the two of you dating now?"

"No!" I exclaimed incredulously. "No, we're not, what makes you think we are?"

"Well, why aren't you?" Fred shot back bluntly.

"Salazar," I muttered as I rolled my eyes. "It's not like you're first years who don't yet have a proper grasp on emotions. You must understand why –"

"But Percy's crushed on your _ages_!" Geroge cut in suddenly, growing tired of my beating around the bush. "Literally for years and that's why we did what we did. Do you have any idea how much effort we put into researching the bloody binding jinx? Tell me that we haven't wasted all that time for no reason?"

"Honestly Percy is my least favourite brother," Fred admitted as he nudged Geroge. "Well really, him and Ron tend to switch positions quite often so it's a tie. But that's beside the point, we thought that maybe he'd finally loosen up a little if he got a decent girlfriend."

"Wait, wait," I said quickly, tucking my wand away. "Let me get this right; your brother has a _crush_ on me."

They nodded in unison and it was enough. Hurrying past them, I walked with quick steps towards the dorm room and ignored the questions that they continued to throw after me. I didn't try to answer a single one and when I reached the dorm, I paused outside for a moment to catch my breath so it didn't seem like I'd practically ran the entire way.

When I walked into the dorm, my eyes settled onto Percy's figure as he sat on the sofa with a book open in his lap. Crossing the room with steady steps, I settled down beside him and he didn't even look up, too absorbed in his book. Turning on the sofa so I sat facing him, I looked him over closely.

"You must have been sorted into Gryffindor for a reason, right?" I wondered aloud, taking him by surprise. He looked up then, watching me in silence. Salazar, was it really that hard to get an answer from him? "If that's the case, then where's all your courage, Weasley?" Silence, _again_. Now that wouldn't do. I knew just the way to break the silence. "Well, how long have you had this crush on me, then?"

He sighed, dropping his head. "Fred and George?" he asked as he lifted his head reluctantly. At my answering nod, he sighed and muttered, "I'm going to hex them."

"Don't." He closed his book and looked at me closely. "They had good intentions at heart."

"If you say so."

I watched as he turned his head away from me, clearly stewing on the inside despite my words. Whilst he didn't seem the type to actively seek revenge against his brothers – he was more the type to go to his mother – but I guess his brothers had pushed him too far this time.

"Tell you what, I'll let you take me out for the next Hogsmeade trip?"

He watched me in surprise, eyes widening behind his glasses before he managed to school his features. Feigning disinterest, he opened his book to continue with his reading. "I'll meet you back in the dorm after breakfast."

Merlin, he was doing a very bad job of hiding his smile.


	2. Epilogue: 2 Years Later

_2 YEARS LATER_

Sometimes, Percy was so stubborn, that I was left to wonder just how we'd made it this long. But then again, I was extremely stubborn too so he was likely to be asking himself the same question. There were also moments where I, no matter how much I tried, just couldn't understand his behaviour. I could understand wanting to leave home to get some freedom, some space and something that was actually _yours_ but I couldn't understand why he'd decided to cut his ties with his family so definitively, as if he never intended to return to them. Perhaps he didn't. What happened when he achieved his aspirations but found himself alone? Well, he had me but family was different; they were constant and what if he wanted to complain about me to someone? What happened then?

"Percy," I tried quietly as I helped him unpack his things.

"What is it?" he called out from his bedroom as he walked into the front room of his new apartment.

"I don't think you should have left things on such a sour note with your family," I admitted, stacking his books on the bookshelf and keeping my back to him. "You don't really want to do that to them. In the end, family is all you have."

When he gave no response, I glanced over my shoulder to find him watching me with heavy, glaring eyes. They bored right into me and I turned back to stacking the books, knowing that I'd lost. Once I was finished with the books, I put the empty box in the corner before opening the box of pictures. Percy worked in silence around me and I couldn't help but continue to throw looks at him. I knew he'd eventually regret the choice he'd made. But he refused to see that.

But then again, I did understand his reasoning. He hadn't exactly confessed his true feelings to me willingly but he'd been too intoxicated to realise what he was spilling. The next morning when he recovered from his hangover, he couldn't remember a word.

Percy, even from the outsider's point of view, was the boring Weasley and often felt ostracised even within his own family. With no one to relate to amongst his family members, he'd retreated to his room to lose himself in his books and was instantly labelled the boring one. I could still remember him ranting for a long time about how he'd struggled under the burden of being a 'middle' child and having to look after his younger siblings when his eldest brothers left the house. Especially when those younger siblings sought out to make him the butt of every one of their jokes.

And now that he'd left that environment, he was still the bad guy for turning his back on his family in favour for his work. Even though I struggled to understand it, I had still spent a _long_ time comforting him after he'd confessed to me just how hurt he had been by his family's reaction to his promotion. They hadn't congratulated him, or agreed that it was the rightful fruit of his labour. Instead they'd claimed it was a strategic move by the ministry to keep an eye on Potter. Whilst I might not have agreed with his decisions, but I could understand why he'd made them.

"Are you alright?" he asked coming up behind me and taking a hold of my shoulder, rubbing his thumbs gently back and forth. I leaned back slightly into his touch. "You've been lost in thought for a while."

"Just wondering where to put each picture," I explained, turning towards him with a reassuring smile. Right now, considering the fact that he'd turned his back on his family, he needed my support more than ever.

He shook his head, smiling slightly exasperatedly. "I'm not even surprised; you're a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these sorts of things. Here, let me take them. I'll have it done within ten minutes."

"No way." Shaking my head obstinately, I held the box out of his reach. "You're just going to put them everywhere – even if they don't look good together."

"It doesn't really matter that much," he insisted, reaching around me to pull the box away. I frowned up at him but he just pressed a kiss to my forehead to placate me. "Why don't you go and find the takeaway menus? We should order some food before it gets too late – I'm sure you're starving."

"Too late?" I looked at the clock and gasped, "Merlin, time's flown by so quickly. I'm going to have to leave soon or else there's no way I'll make it to work on time tomorrow."

"You could just leave from here in the morning?" he suggested as he set about putting the picture frames out around the room. Merlin, he really _was_ just putting the picture frames anywhere, regardless of how they'd look. I'd have to spend _ages_ fixing them later; while he wasn't looking, of course.

"I could," I agreed slowly as I walked towards him and swapped two of the picture frames around as he looked distractedly down at a picture of the two of us.

"Or you could just stay here?" he said suddenly, sounding a touch too casual about it. Turning towards him, I met his waiting eyes and watched him adjust his glasses on his nose. "Permanently, that is."

I didn't say a word. Instead, I just smiled at him as I headed away in search of the takeaway menus that I was sure were stashed away somewhere. He sighed from behind me and I heard his footsteps follow after my own.

"What does that smile mean?" Stopping in my step, I waited for him to reach me. He looked down at me with apprehensive eyes and I couldn't help but smile _that_ smile again. "Well?"

Pressing a quick kiss to his lips, I hurried away from him. But Percy trailed after me straight away.

"What does _that_ mean?"


End file.
